Puppet show

Something I could have blogged about yesterday if I hadn't decided to be all me me me with the resolutions is the Weakest Link puppet special that was on last night. I'd actually heard about this during my Blue Peter adventure, chatting with someone who had worked on it and was telling me all about the technical difficulties of making a Weakest Link show with puppets (the walk of shame is obviously tricky to arrange). And no, I can't remember her name.

Soo was obviously going to win, though - she's always had more brains than all the other puppets on children's TV put together (except Sooty, of course, but Soo has the advantage of being able to talk. Although Sooty answering questions by whispering in Anne Robinson's ear would have been good.) Actually, I always had something of a crush on Soo. She's got a really nice voice, don't you think?

Jelly and Jackson had the funniest ad-libs, though. I'm going to have to watch The Story Makers now - I really admire puppeteers who can get into their characters like those guys obviously can.

Come the resolution, you'll be the first against the wall

It's the time of year when people resolve to do things and then don't do them. So I thought I should join in the fun, since there are rather a lot of things I need to do. So, because I'm twelve times better than most people, I'm going to make New Month Resolutions that I want to achieve before January is out. And I'm publicly posting them a few days early in case any of my loyal readers want to suggest further resolutions or refinements to existing ones. So here we go:

1) Get the amazing memory feats prepared for those uni demonstrations we're going to do. This way we'll avoid any Blue Peter-style fiascos.

2) Get a job. Unfortunate but unavoidable - if I'm not gainfully employed by around the end of March, I will be destitute.

3) Get that machine in Woolworth's to tell me I weigh less than 11 stone 10.2 pounds with a B.M.I. value of less than 24.9. By fair means or reprogramming.

4) Get that damn book of mine written. Seriously.

5) Develop magical powers of some kind. Not related to memory.

Commercial break

There's a thing on the BBC News website saying that that advert with the drumming gorilla was the highlight of the advertising world in 2007. Really? I mean, it was okay, but it wasn't anything special. And until I read the article I didn't have the faintest idea that it was an advert for Cadbury's, so it's really not achieved its basic aim, anyway.

The coolest adverts of the year have been those home-made-looking ones for some phone company, no idea which one, or that one with squillions of musical instruments all in a line playing a catchy tune. Which could be advertising toilet paper as far as I know. If I ever end up in charge of arranging an advert for whatever company I'm working for, I'll insist that it uses the brand name in a catchy, memorable slogan that's the core of the advert. And no drumming gorillas.

I'm an actor, a mentalist and a psychological specimen!

Wow, I haven't googled myself for ages, but I didn't expect to come up with so many wonderful discoveries in one session!

Okay, number one - I've got my own IMDb page courtesy of my appearance on The Panel! This is the grooviest thing ever! I've always thought it would be good to get myself an Equity card and have a small speaking part on The Bill or something along those lines. You know, just for the experience. And if you're on IMDb, that practically makes you a real actor, doesn't it?

Number two - not that anybody at Channel 5 or Special Edition has mentioned it to me, but it seems the documentary "The Mentalists" is on Channel 5 on Thursday January 10, at 8:00pm. "Documentary following accountant Ben Pridmore in his bid to become the World Memory Champion. The film follows Pridmore on a journey from the UK to Germany and Bahrain to compete against 'warriors of the mind' from three continents. Along the way, he encounters an array of eccentric characters, including a blue-blooded Austrian Count, 'mind guru' Tony Buzan, and a latter-day Renaissance man who lists 'inventing a new colour' as one of his works.". I confidently expect it to make me look like some kind of freak, and I urge everyone reading this not to watch it.

Number three - I don't know exactly what an A.P. Psychology course is, but they see fit to publish their homework schedules online, and check out what they were doing a couple of weeks ago! On Thursday December 13, brilliantly as part of the day themed around both memory and forgetting, students are instructed to spend five minutes watching "the amazing memory of Ben Pridmore" (aka my Central Tonight appearance). I'm on a syllabus! My god, it doesn't get cooler than this!

Ho ho ho, merry Christmas!

What could be more appropriate for the festive season than six consecutive episodes of Father Ted (not including the Christmas special) on More4 tonight? Well, quite a lot of things could, but I don't care. It's funny. Happy Christmas, everyone! Have a great day!

Once you pop, you can't stop!

Much as I love my grandma, she labours under the mistaken impression that I don't eat enough. So whenever I come round, she plies me with cakes and goodies non-stop until I'm fit to burst. She also routinely tells me I've lost weight, even though I've got documented proof that I haven't from that machine in Woolworth's.

She also gave me a big tube of Pringles (35% extra free, party size!) and a pack of jaffa cakes to take home, just to keep me going until my next visit because I can't be trusted to eat anything in the meantime, and I just have no moderation when it comes to Pringles. Once I've eaten one, I'll finish the whole tube, especially if they're sour cream and onion flavour like these. So now I feel unwell from overeating, and it's not even Christmas Eve yet!